NATIONAL BESTSELLER A whistle-blower. A witch hunt. A cover-up. Secret tribunals, out-of-control intelligence agencies, and government corruption. Welcome to 1890s Paris. Alfred Dreyfus has been convicted of treason, sentenced to life imprisonment on a far-off island, and publicly stripped of his rank. Among the witnesses to his humiliation is Georges Picquart, an ambitious military officer who … Picquart, an ambitious military officer who believes in Dreyfus’s guilt as staunchly as any member of the public. But when he is promoted to head of the French counter-espionage agency, Picquart finds evidence that a spy still remains at large in the military—indicating that Dreyfus is innocent. As evidence of the most malignant deceit mounts and spirals inexorably toward the uppermost levels of government, Picquart is compelled to question not only the case against Dreyfus but also his most deeply held beliefs about his country, and about himself.
Winner of the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction
Winner of the American Library in Paris Book Award
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I really enjoyed this book about the Dreyfus Affair. I remember learning about the historical event in high-school, but history was always a dull and monotonous topic for me. This book really brought the event to life with incredibly deep characters and a sharp attention to detail. I actually read for seven hours straight until 3 AM just to finish it!
This is the first Robert Harris book I’ve read. I’m not good with first person novels but this was very well written. I enjoyed the author’s style too. More importantly, though I am fascinated by miscarriages of justice and although a novel I found the story compelling and so enjoyed a very entertaining history lesson.
Wonderful writing and storytelling. Made me want to learn more about the Dreyfus Affair. A real page-turner.
The Dreyfus affair is quite well known but Harris’ novel retells the saga of injustice, prejudice and finally late and hard-won exoneration from a fresh angle. As with almost all Harris’ work, this is an absorbing and compulsively readable drama.
Loved this book, from start to finish. Writing a historical fiction with real events and people and making it gripping is a difficult task and job well done.
A compelling mix of real-life and fictionalized events surrounding the infamous Dreyfus affair of 1895, from an author I’ve always admired. Good stuff.
A whistle-blower. A witch hunt. A cover-up. Secret tribunals, out-of-control intelligence agencies, and government corruption. No, this is not a book from today’s time. It takes place in1890s Paris, and is based on a true story..
Alfred Dreyfus has been convicted of treason, sentenced to life imprisonment on a far-off island, and publicly stripped of his rank. Among the witnesses to his humiliation is Georges Picquart, an ambitious military officer who believes in Dreyfus’s guilt as staunchly as any member of the public. But when he is promoted to head of the French counter-espionage agency, Picquart finds evidence that a spy still remains at large in the military—indicating that Dreyfus is innocent.
The book then deals with his trials and tribulation in proving that Dreyfus is innocent and bringing the true traitor to justice.
Robert Harris’ gift is the way he draws his readers into an historical setting, and “An Officer and a Spy” is no exception. The plot follows the story of a French intelligence officer who commits career suicide by assisting Captain Alfred Dreyfus, the man who was convicted of spying on his countrymen on the basis of his Jewish heritage rather than on concrete evidence. While the protagonist attempts to restore both of their reputations, readers can expect to be drawn into the internal politics of the French military before the First World War, and to experience the anti-Semitic undercurrents in France at the time. This novel is a successful blend of historical fiction and courtroom drama, and the courtroom scenes rival those of John Grisham and Scott Turow.
[Stephen Tester is an aspiring author. Follow his legal fiction blog at: http://www.stephenmtester.com, or on Twitter https://twitter.com/S_Tester_Author%5D
This is the best book I’ve read in the past year by a long head. It’s very rare for me to say “I couldn’t put this down” though, in this case, I literally finished it in two long sittings.
Opening:
‘Major Picquart to see the Minister of War…’ The sentry on the rue Saint-Dominique steps out of his box to open the gate and I run through a whirl of snow across the windy courtyard into the warm lobby of the hôtel de Brienne, where a sleek young captain of the Republican Guards rises to salute me. I repeat, with greater urgency: ‘Major Picquart to see the Minister of War…!’
When I was a boy, in the ’50s, the best book on my father’s shelves was a large volume called Fifty Great Disasters & Tragedies that Shocked the World. Tales of the Titanic, the Charge of the Light Brigade, the Black Hole of Calcutta. But the chapter that I came back to, over and over, was the one dealing with a certain Alfred Dreyfus. It was my first exposure to the potentially vindictive and conspiratorial nature of the State – albeit I probably wouldn’t have used those words at the time and the State in question was France, of course. Perish the thought that a British Government could have been capable of such dishonesty and anti-Semitic evil as the French dished out to Captain Dreyfus in 1895.
But this is actually the lesser-known story of Georges Picquart, from the army’s Statistical Section, the intelligence unit that originally exposed Dreyfus as a spy and managed his trial. The result was a barbaric public humiliation of Dreyfus in front of a Parisian crowd, twenty thousand strong, shouting “Death to the Jew!” Dreyfus is shipped off to Devil’s Island and treated with savage inhumanity while Picquart begins to stumble across clues suggesting that all may not be entirely as it seems with the verdict. You sometimes have to pinch yourself to remember that the treatment of Dreyfus is factually accurate – and the same is true of Picquart’s journey to establish the truth. French novelist Émile Zola may have taken much of the credit for exposing that truth, but it’s Picquart – himself a somewhat conflicted character – who shines through as this tale’s true hero.
The book is beautifully written, even by the standards of Robert Harris. Historical fiction at its best.
Fantastic story and very well written.
Great book. Historical fiction, about the Dreyfus trial.
This is the true story of the Dreyfus Affair in the turn of the century French Army. One ethical, intelligent officer put clues together that proved a man condemned by the upper echelons of the Army was actually used as a scapegoat.
Very well re-telling of the Dryfus Affair.A chilling reminder that powerful men in government will do anything to protect themselves from exposure. Chilling reminder to those in highest power since the investigation took years and years to reach the final conclusion.
Great writing. I didn’t want to put it down .
Hard to put down, a great read
I am a big fan of spy novels. In my opinion, this book is it the top of the list. Very gripping story. I know people use this phrase often but this book really was hard for me to put down.